The animal breaks the team's previous record of 16.8 feet (5.1 meters), set when they caught a female great white named Kimel. (Both records are unofficial and not maintained by a formal organization.)

The new titleholder was named Apache after the dog of Brett McBride, boat captain on the National Geographic Channel show Shark Men. (The National Geographic Channel is part-owned by the National Geographic Society, which owns National Geographic News.)

Instead, Apache's real value would be in helping to resolve the lingering mysteries of great white behavior.

Biggest Shark May Help Crack Mysteries

Expedition leader Fischer agrees—and he and his team are now watching to see where Apache goes.

For instance, recent research suggests that Pacific great whites gather in specific spots near the coasts—including the Guadalupe Island site—and then travel to a "cafe" in the middle of the ocean to feed. The animals often return to the same aggregation sites after feeding.

But this is still a tentative theory, so it "would be groundbreaking if, [say], Apache left Guadalupe and went to the middle of the ocean and [returned] to a different aggregation site," Fischer said.

Overall, tagging sharks to figure out where they migrate and congregate may help conservationists protect the species, Fischer added. Great whites are considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Meanwhile, Apache lives on, he said, as a "giant male shark out there doing his great white thing."